Sixteen years ago I became a mother. That’s what a first child will do to you, technically speaking.

A few days later, still at the hospital where my son was being observed, I vividly remember myself stumbling into the NICU still donning the hideous hospital gown, wearing sunglasses because I was crying 24/7 and slinging back Guinness from a bottle. (They say its good for breast milk production, any excuse will do.)

I also remember the look on Tony’s face when he saw me.

“Nicole, they’ll take the baby from us if they see you,” he whispered through gritted teeth.

Lucky for us, none of the medical staff paid attention to the not-drunk-but-wished-she-was new mother who was still dressing in hospital clothes, sulking and not ready to face reality.

That was one of a few “time-to-get-your-$hit-together” moments in those first days.

The beginning of a journey through, and eventually out of the “dark-cloud period”—from diagnosis to acceptance to thriving (because, yes, the latter does happen).

Daniel’s birth with Down syndrome—and a massive heart defect—didn’t come as a total surprise, but it caught our expectations of parenthood off guard.

We knew to suspect something chromosomal was off based on a few pregnancy tests. We knew that the heart problem (Complete AV Canal Defect) would require open-heart surgery.

We anyway hoped for all of that to be untrue and we dwelt in that because ignorance allows for bliss and this was our first pregnancy.

Facing reality, however, was jarring. The day after Daniel’s birth, August 16, 2010, is when a doctor and a social worker sat us down for “the talk.” I squirmed miserably in my seat, partly thanks to the after-effects of childbirth, partly denial.

They threw at us the worst-case scenarios in a cold list of things we should expect. The only one I recall now, because it kept echoing in my mind at the time, is that we shouldn’t expect our little innocent baby to ever have exceed the capacity of a 12-year-old.

Short of using the now-taboo term “retarded,” they basically defined it with thousands of other words.

That’s what I took with me and, as they droned on, it was the only fact I could grapple with as my mind raced to wonder many things at once including why I didn’t know more about Down syndrome. And then to remember that my 6th grade teacher had a daughter with DS, brought her to school one day, and we talked, laughed and played together, running laps around the classroom.

But that was it. I had little to no framework for what Down syndrome actually was.

At the same time, I knew—especially since they brought a social worker—that they were judging our fitness as parents and whether they should take the baby from us, assuming we’d be incapable of raising a kid that would never surpass 12 in cognition and possibly life itself.

I tried to remain impassive despite the physical and emotional pain raging inside me. And if you know me, I suck at poker. And tact. It was beyond exhausting to control my facial reactions.

I hated them. I hated their assessments. I hated their lack of a “cure” or, after all these years in medicine, any positive outlook or perspective that they could offer.

Nothing but negative. No hope to offer.

Just a bleak picture for first-time parents who had no framework for parenting any child let alone one with “special needs.” I was also seriously insulted for me, for that cute baby who I felt was being judged.

All this as the happy pregnancy and post-birth hormones I was experiencing were finishing up their job and were on the verge of storming out of my body like a herd of demon-possessed pigs down a cliff leaving me high and dry.

A cocktail for despair, dread and depression.

We had to “grow up” fast as parents.

Dressed in real clothes now, not hospital garb, I listened as the NICU nurse was discharging us a week later reading another staccato list of instructions way longer than most parents get. We would leave the hospital not just having to figure out how to buckle those complicated car seats, but having to know if our baby was experiencing cardiac failure.

• If he doesn’t sleep well, he could be experiencing cardiac failure

• If he sleeps too much, he could be experiencing cardiac failure

• If he cries too much, he could be experiencing cardiac failure

• If he’s too quiet, he could be experiencing cardiac failure

• If he turns blue, rush to the ER immediately

That made for some really restful nights, as you can imagine.

Here’s the funny thing: we never experienced cardiac failure. Thank God for that. When he passed the 5-kilo mark (11 pounds), Daniel’s (first) open-heart surgery was simply scheduled for May 1, 2011.

Now, as I look back at the past 16 years (that I cannot believe have flown by), I realize that mom is just one of the many designations that came with giving birth to Daniel. Others developed and many are a work in progress.

Advocate. Medical researcher. Voice. Interpreter. Translator. Deejay. Facilitator. Travel agent. Blogger. Bureaucracy hurdler. (Truthfully I “delegate” the bureaucratic stuff to Tony whenever possible, for which I am grateful.)

Someone commented that we seemed like second-time parents because we weren’t nervous with our newborn. That’s probably because instead of normal baby things in those first few months, we were juggling doctor and therapy appointments and I decided the best way to heal would be to run my first and only full marathon.

We were also busy navigating how to present our child to the world.

It struck us as weird to mention it when people met Daniel for the first time. Or to post on social media: “Meet our baby, Daniel. He has Down syndrome.”

Why should that be how we choose to identify him? Why does he need a qualifier at all? This was not something that Tony or I ever discussed, it evolved naturally.

Likewise, even now when I meet people, I don’t say, “Hi, I’m Nicole and, btw, my oldest child has DS.”

On the flip side, that also means that sometimes people who know me in a different context are unaware of this. Recently, a good friend asked how I couldn’t know what Daniel wants for his birthday. I stumbled to respond wondering, should I explain “because he has DS” (as if that’s an answer—it’s not).

After he was born, I balked at telling our close relatives over the phone. I only shared it in person when I traveled to America two months after his birth when they had a chance to hold Daniel first, full of love and unprejudiced by a diagnosis.

That was what we needed for them to have—a chance to know him first. Because Daniel is more than the sum of his diagnosis.

A diagnosis is not a definition. It is not an identity. A diagnosis can be the seed of curiosity and resilience, the springboard from which we approach life.

What I’ve learned and am still navigating as we move into a new season of Daniel’s life: A diagnosis can explain many facts. But it doesn’t always answer our questions.

Sometimes, I feel we as parents were robbed of that initial moment of pure love unclouded by medical worries, predictions and pessimism.

I am thankful we were able to shake off those feelings that accompanied Daniel’s diagnosis on that day 16 years ago.

So here’s to Daniel with all of the hope, faith and love that he is made of and has given us in the past 16 years. No matter how it started.

Voices of opposition to and outright disdain for Hezbollah in Lebanon have been amplified more than ever, with many politicians and activists publicly supporting the agreement with Israel as a last-ditch effort to save the country.

The agreement signed last week between Beirut and Jerusalem has emboldened accusations against Hezbollah for dragging the beleaguered country into several devastating wars, including the latest one that ended last month.

Social media posts by activists and politicians and footage compiled by the Center for Peace Communications and Jusoor News show a fomenting tide of hostility aimed at the well-funded and armed Iranian proxy that has dominated southern Lebanon since the 1980s.

“They’re just doing whatever Iran wants, not defending Lebanon,” said Hadi Murad, physician and political activist. “Hezbollah still wants to implement a foreign agenda without thinking for a single moment about the future of their fellow Shiites, about their childcare and the blood of their people.”

Nancy Lakkis, a journalist and outspoken Hezbollah critic who survived an assassination attempt last year, openly said, “We want Hezbollah to be disarmed. We want a peace treaty with Israel.”

Samir Geagea, member of the Christian Lebanese Forces party, thanked U.S. Vice President JD Vance on behalf of Christians.

After the agreement was signed with Israel, Gaegea called it the “greatest opportunity that has come to Lebanon to emerge from the tragic circumstances it has endured over the past 50 years.”

Charles Jabbour, communications chief of the Lebanese Forces party, has been calling for Hezbollah’s surrender for years and insisted that Israel should not withdraw its military until the militia is disarmed.

“Any security agreement preventing the use of Lebanese territory for regional attacks effectively nullifies the justification for keeping weapons outside state control,” he said.

Lebanon voted to disarm all non-state actors last August, a decision largely aimed at Hezbollah.

Another Christian party, Kataeb, published a statement in April welcoming direct negotiations with Israel “as the only viable path toward a ceasefire, an end to hostilities, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied areas in southern Lebanon, the return of displaced residents to their villages, the restoration of stability and the achievement of lasting peace in Lebanon.”

Kataeb members have openly castigated Iran for interfering in Lebanese interests.

Samy Gemayel, also of Kataeb, congratulated the Lebanese leadership and the U.S. for reaching the agreement with Israel.

“Most Lebanese are not prepared to live as hostages to Hezbollah,” he said a few days before the deal. “We will not coexist with Hezbollah’s weapons, no matter what the outcomes of the external negotiations may be. They must place themselves under the roof of the state and the law and adhere to the state’s conditions.”

Lebanese parliament member Fouad Makhzoumi, a Sunni member of parliament, called the Israel-Lebanon agreement “a historic milestone and a decisive step on the path to achieving a just and sustainable peace with Israel, to resolving longstanding issues through diplomacy, to strengthening the authority of the Lebanese state, to ensuring the state’s exclusive right to bear arms, and to ending the existence of Hezbollah’s weapons and those of all militias.”

Criticism of the group from Hezbollah’s own Shiite community has also been plentiful. Zeinab Saad said Hezbollah tries to project representation of all Shiites, but many voices are rising up saying, “‘No to wars’ and ‘We stand with the state.’”

Another Shiite political activist, Mahmoud Shuaib, slammed Hezbollah for staging its war against Israel from villages in southern Lebanon. He said residents who sent their families away from danger “stayed behind in their homes to protect them—not from Israel but from these individuals who are causing the destruction regardless of what cause they claim to represent.”

Lynn Harfoush – former Hezbollah follower turned critic – blamed the militia for dragging her country into war again in March.

“I am here to tell you: Millions of Lebanese – including many Shiites – want a different future,” she said in an address to the United Nations Security Council in March where she pleaded for international support in eradicating [freeing] Lebanon from “a suicidal faction.”

“As I speak, thousands of Israeli soldiers are massed at our southern border, and we Lebanese fear that the conflict will only widen further. …Who is paying the price? Not the men who deliver speeches about resistance from protected bunkers,” she said.

Mariam Kesserwan, a Shiite and outspoken anti-Hezbollah activist and founder of the social media channel Lebanon Uprising, said the time has come to decriminalize pro-Israel speech.

For their part, Hezbollah leaders have warned that an agreement with Israel will lead to internal divisions. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an Hezbollah ally, called the agreement with Israel “sedition” while Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah warned that implementing the deal would spark a civil war.

“What happened in Washington is an attempt to disrupt the Islamabad path, and without the resistance (Hezbollah) nothing will pass,” Fadlallah said, referring to the MOU between the U.S. and Iran.

Only time will tell if this sentiment will be enough to extricate Hezbollah from Lebanese society.

This article was originally published here at All Israel News.

When Israel’s foreign minister said Thursday that he would call for a vote to recognize the Armenian Genocide, many involved in the issue scoffed and greeted the announcement with skepticism.

However, the issue did in fact take center stage two days later and, after decades of skirting the issue, the Cabinet formally recognized the Armenian Genocide.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who brought the resolution before the government, called the decision “a moral and historical duty. And in my opinion, there is no strong reason to be avoiding it.”

The historic decision drew mixed emotions from Israelis and Armenians who have long pushed for recognition by the Jewish state. Responses wavered from “better late than never” to “too little too late.”

Yoav Loeff, a lecturer on Armenian history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, welcomed the vote, but questioned the timing.

Previous recognition efforts in Israel had often stalled because of Turkish pressure and Israel’s strategic ties with Azerbaijan, an important security and energy partner. However, deteriorating ties between Jerusalem and Ankara likely reduced the diplomatic costs of recognition enough for a vote on the issue, Loeff said.

Even Israeli diplomats privately lauded the decision many saying it was long overdue, sources in the Foreign Ministry told AIN. They agreed it was a moral obligation for Israel as a Jewish state and modern democracy.

The Israeli Cabinet unanimously approved the resolution, making Israel one of just over 30 countries to formally recognize the mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Many hope this formal recognition will raise awareness among Israelis—many of whom are unfamiliar with the history of the genocide, Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter and the present-day community, where clashes sometimes erupt between Jews and Christians.

“The resolution that I am bringing to the government today constitutes the formal recognition by Israel of the genocide committed against the Armenian people during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire,” Sa’ar told ministers.

The Armenian Genocide began on April 24, 1915, with the arrest and deportation of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople before expanding into mass killings, forced marches, rape, starvation and widespread atrocities. Some 1.5 million Armenians were killed and thousands of survivors sought refuge in Jerusalem’s Armenian Quarter.

Israel had repeatedly rebuffed official recognition of the genocide despite attempts in the Knesset to put the issue to a vote. Diplomatic concerns, particularly Israel’s strategic relationships with Turkey—which denies the atrocities constituted genocide—were widely viewed as the reason.

After the Israeli vote, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he would continue to hold Israel to account for the war in Gaza.

“There, in Gaza, a genocide took place. And even today, the attacks continue. Accountability for this genocide will come, without a doubt,” he said, according to CNN.

For Jerusalem’s Armenian community and many dedicated supporters, the decision was anti-climactic coming from a nation built as a result of the Holocaust.

Since he was 13, Hagop Djernazian has advocated in the Knesset for Genocide recognition—to no avail. While he welcomes the decision, he told AIN, “Israel missed the opportunity.”

Djernazian, a fourth generation survivor of the Genocide, said in an interview with Israel’s Kan News that he officially gave up hope that Israel would recognize the Genocide in 2021 when the U.S. did so under former President Joe Biden, but Israel still failed to follow suit.

Dickran Torrossian agreed this critical recognition should have come much earlier.

“I am both sad and happy. Yes, it’s never too late, but the State of Israel should have been the first ones and not delay due to political reasons,” Torrossian said. “I pray that the day will come when the Turks will also recognize it.”

Tony Sperandeo, an Israeli who has long support Armenia, described the vote as a historic moment after decades of waiting.

Sperandeo said this is “a first big step” toward Israel fulfilling what he described as its moral calling to support persecuted peoples.

Skeptics still wondered whether the government had a deeper motive due to campaigning season, sour relations with Turkey or even to counter international criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.

“I don’t really believe that the motive is a burst of humanitarian thinking,” Loeff said.

Sa’ar said Sunday’s decision was not retaliation against Erdoğan, whose criticism of Israel has escalated during the war in Gaza.

“The fact that Turkey promotes false narratives against Israel does not grant it immunity from historical truths,” he said.

Sa’ar said the resolution will soon come before the full Knesset for a vote.

In the year 301, Armenia became the first nation to declare Christianity its national religion.

This article was originally published here on All Israel News.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that a deal was imminent between the America and Iran since the ceasefire went into effect in April. One news outlet counted 39 such statements.

We all lost count along the way.

Lately, Trump insisted it be finalized that very day (which happened to be his 80th birthday). 

But tensions between Israel and Hezbollah presented one last threat to blow up the deal: Hezbollah drones landed in Israeli territory and Israel responded with a strike on a Hezbollah target in Beirut on Sunday.

After Israel and Hezbollah dropped their munitions, Trump dropped some F-bombs in a call with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid.

“Why did Bibi have to do a fucking attack? I was so pissed off. I let him know. He has no fucking judgement. I let him know that,” Trump said about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Axios reported.

Trump also claimed that he persuaded Iran to forgo a revenge attack on Israel.

Nevertheless, once all the drama subsided, the two sides confirmed that the proposed Memorandum of Understanding is scheduled to be signed on Friday in Switzerland.

REACTIONS

Leaders in the Islamic Republic claimed victory. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said the “wretched American and Zionist enemies have no choice but to accept defeat and surrender.”

Trump portrays it as a major diplomatic success and a stronger alternative to the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated under President Barack Obama. Trump argues his framework would permanently block Iran’s path to nuclear weapons while improving relations between Washington and Tehran.

“I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!”

In Israel, almost all analysts and political figures say the deal is bad for the Jewish state particularly because it accepts Iran’s demand to link the agreement to Israel’s war with Hezbollah. 

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel’s policy remains unchanged: “The IDF will remain in security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza — without a time limit — in order to defend the border and Israeli communities from there against jihadist elements.”

Netanyahu hasn’t said a word yet. 

MAIN POINTS

Now, let’s get into the deal, but first a few important points: 

• The full text has not been released and can only be pieced together by statements from each side at the moment.

• This is not an end to the war, but a 60-day extension of the ceasefire during which the sides must hammer out even more controversial topics such as the nuclear question.

Former Mossad official Sima Shine noted, while “70% of the MOU can be understood… sometimes the devil is in the details.”

Without 100% confirmation of the details, here’s what we can assume:

1. The nuclear issue: This topic will be negotiated over the next 60 days. As Shine pointed out, “Iran doesn’t have any interest in having an agreement,” nor giving up its nuclear quest. She expects (at least) another 60-day extension after the MOU expires.

2. Strait of Hormuz reopening: the U.S. Navy blockade removed

3. Hezbollah-Israel: fighting must stop as part of the framework

WIN-LOSS COLUMN

So who wins? Who loses?

Winners: Iran, Qatar, Pakistan

Iran will soon feel the full relief of sanctions, may get its frozen sums of money and its capability to export oil. Iran also gains regional influence.

Pakistan stepped into the role of mediator despite vested interests in Iran. 

Qatar was in Tehran for the final hours of the negotiations, It remains to be seen what it is walking away with.

Shine said: “In all the disputes in the Middle East, we find the Qataris — and not only we find them again, but they were sitting in Tehran when the Iranians said they will not sign the MOU because of the Israeli attack in the Dahieh” in Beirut.

Tie: U.S., the Gulf

Shine pointed out that relations between Iran and the Gulf states will change despite the fact that the Islamic Regime attacked the Gulf, specifically the United Arab Emirates, harder than any other region. 

“The Gulf states understand that they don’t have an alternative to their neighbor, their super regional superpower, neighbor, Iran,” she said. “They will try to find a ways to improve relations, even though no one of them will believe the Iranians… but still, there is a need to compensate this way or the other, and to come to terms between the two.” 

The U.S. lost face in the Middle East, but can be forgiven since the MOU has driven oil prices down.

Losers: Lebanon, Israel, the Iranian people

This agreement effectively removes Israel’s ability to pound Hezbollah — much to the chagrin of Israelis in northern border communities and the Lebanese government.

Lebanon has been ripe for a change in its government, the extrication of Hezbollah from its system and an agreement with Israel. Lebanon was likely leaning on Israel to disarm Hezbollah since it cannot do so with its own military. 

In fact, Iran gains a legitimate role in Lebanon — even as Washington hosts Beirut and Jerusalem for normalization talks aimed at cutting out Hezbollah.

Israelis are three months away from elections, hence you can expect this MOU to play a major role in campaigning. Some of Netanyahu’s own ministers will go against the agreement, and even Trump, while the sitting prime minister will have to navigate a diplomatic tightrope.

Meanwhile, the Iranians who were promised “help is on the way” and were hoping for a reprieve from their tyrannical leaders, are on their own again. 

Originally published here: https://nicjan.com/us-iran-mou-winners-losers-trump-deal/

I recorded this mere hours before the announcement: https://www.youtube.com/live/7Vj3_erRJZA?si=-lrwX29HeKPyRqMV

They had just finished a shift that began at 7 a.m., standing as a protective presence for Christian clergy near David’s Tomb where the observant mingle on their way to their respective holy sites. They were headed to the Armenian Convent, another flashpoint of anti-Christian incidents.

The volunteers were among dozens of Israeli Jews who sacrificed their own holiday to stand with Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City after a spate of incidents in recent weeks left the Christian population concerned for their safety.

“People were saying, ‘It’s nothing – it’s just a few boys spitting,’” Alicia Nudelman told ALL ISRAEL NEWS about why she has chosen to volunteer. “But even if it were just two boys, I feel that my voice is that Jerusalem must be open for everyone and secure for everyone. All the streets must be open for everyone who loves Jerusalem.”

Israel’s treatment of Christians came under an international microscope after an attack on a nun, the barring of the highest Catholic official in the Holy Land from the church on Palm Sunday and the desecration of Christian statues in southern Lebanon by Israeli soldiers.

While the government condemned the attack on the nun, apologized to the Latin patriarch for the destruction of the statues and took disciplinary actions against the soldiers, some Israelis allege that a general lack of enforcement for minor incidents has given rise to more frequent, violent, and brazen attacks.

“The trend is be very, very out there in the open – to be anti-Christian openly. It used to be spit and hide. Now, they do it without any hesitation,” said Yisca Harani, a Jewish-Israeli scholar on Christianity. “They have become emboldened to know they have the backing of the authorities who are going to turn a blind eye. It’s becoming more and more out there, more public, more hateful.”

Yisca Harani leads Israelis on a tour of the Armenian Quarter in the Old City (Photo: Nicole Jansezian)

Harani said the usual perpetrators – though still on the margins of Israeli society – are on the rise and “unstoppable.”

It’s this small number that concerns her.

“I’m not trying to hide the fact that we have radicals in Israel,” she said. “But the government is turning a blind eye and hence is actively encouraging this.”

Three years ago, Harani established the Religious Data Freedom Center, a hotline for Christians to report general complaints ranging from disrespectful infractions such as spitting at a person or Christian property to defacing signs with crosses, and actual assaults. Last year, 181 incidents were reported.

A sticker was placed over the sign leading to the church (Photo: Nicole Jansezian)

“If you don’t stop the 181 now, then tomorrow you will reveal there are 400,” Harani said.

A majority of the reports are minor infractions and do not involve violence. Still, many Christians do not file reports, Harani noted, indicating the number could be much higher.

Clergy members for the Catholic and Orthodox churches feel more conspicuous these days due to a lack of pilgrims in the land. Their robes, habits and crosses stand out, attracting unwanted attention in some cases.

The recent incidents went viral in the international media, prompting Israel to appoint a special envoy to the Christian world – a position tasked largely with defending Israel’s position and noting that the Jewish state is a safe haven in the Middle East for worshippers of Jesus.

But Harani and Nudelman are among the concerned Israelis who have taken matters into their own hands, increasing the protective shifts, many of which also coincide with the Jewish holidays.

Israelis meet with a priest from Dormition Abbey after recent attack on nun (Photo: Nicole Jansezian)

Harani has about 100 volunteers now. Wearing yellow vests and keeping watch during processions, they are intended to serve as a deterrent. They also document incidents that occur.

“Every afternoon we have volunteers escorting religious who feel unsafe. We suggested and we do it every day,” Harani said, adding as she spoke, “I’m now texting the volunteer of this hour.”

As fear among Christians has increased so has the need for volunteers. Harani has hosted several campaigns to raise awareness among the Israeli public and recruit more volunteers.

One Friday in May, around 80 Jewish Israelis – some from as far away as the Tel Aviv area – attended a seminar at the Christian Information Center to learn about the tiny Christian presence and the challenges they face in the Holy Land. Christians comprise 2% of the population, numbering just under 200,000.

Harani shifted into this mission after years of teaching Christian history to Israelis.

“Let’s say I love animals and I study zoology and there’s a constant torturing of animals. Would I continue teaching and ignore it? If I see something is distorted, I have to fix it,” she explained describing Israelis’ general lack of understanding—and historical fear—of Christians.

She compared actions toward Christians in the Holy Land to Jews in the diaspora.

“We have suffered so bitterly,” she said of the Jewish people throughout history. “But now I have the opportunity to show that when we are a sovereign nation, this is how to do it right. I cannot continue to accuse the Christian world of treating Jews in a horrible way if, in the end, I am going to be like them.”

Yisca Harani hosts a seminar to raise awareness about Christians and the need for volunteers for protective presence (Photo: Nicole Jansezian)

She is adamant that the Jewish state avoid the slippery road of history.

“The mistreatment of the Jewish people was wrong and now mistreatment of Christians is a sin to me,” she said.

She also understands these incidents are twisted by anti-Israel media to vilify the Jewish state.

“I’m not willing to be academically inaccurate. They want to talk about ‘persecution’ and attacks and put all of Israel into this category. I am not using the word,” she said. “‘Spitting’ is not an attack. Persecution of Christians in the world is about burning churches and beheadings. That is not happening in Israel.”

The matter was taken up in the Israeli parliament during a committee meeting that hosted local Christian leaders on May 13. Knesset Member Gilad Kariv recounted the recent events, asking, “This is the light unto the nations we purport to be?”

Harani was encouraged to see attention from the political echelon.

“It was the best show of democracy – because there is still democracy here. And here, a Knesset member was shouting his lungs out over what’s going on,” she said.

Nudelman, an Israeli tour guide, grew up in Argentina and knows what it is like to live as a minority. When she heard about an escalation in anti-Christian incidents, she said she had no choice but to step up.

“I want the world to also understand and say – this is, I think, the real face of Israel,” she said. “I know most people are not the one spitting and provoking, but there is also a face that says, ‘No no, we’re not just going to condemn at home and say, wow, it’s terrible.’ We are also going to do something; we are going to act.”

I wrote this article which originally appeared in All Israel News at this link.

I’m still basking in the afterglow of a meaningful event that Tony and I hosted in the Old City on Saturday.

We gathered at Enoteca, an elegant bar and cafe tucked into the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem, for a tasting of select wines produced by Christians in the Holy Land.

It was like the Miracle of Cana that we pulled it off despite our failed marketing attempts. But as the room filled with an extraordinary mix of people — including some I didn’t know — I realized we had hit on something special.

Here’s some background on why and how stumbled upon this idea to spotlight specifically Christian wineries of the Holy Land.

1. Why Christian wineries?

Christians make up just 1% of the Palestinian population and 2% of the Israeli population — a tiny minority by any measure. And yet, among these roughly 200,000 people, I count at least 10 wineries.

I don’t have exact numbers, but proportionally, that is extraordinary. How is such a small population making so much wine? I don’t have an answer, but the intrigue was enough for me to dream up this event.

From ancient monasteries to multi-generational families, these wineries reflect the richness of the Christian history of the Holy Land dating back to the time of Jesus. These grapes are a living record of presence.

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2. The Palestinian wine industry deserves your attention

Israelis and Palestinians breathe the same air and work the same soil. In essence, they draw from the same terroir.

In the past three decades, the Israeli wine industry has burgeoned into an international powerhouse. The Palestinian wine industry, much smaller by comparison, is a few years behind, but is following this path. The wines continue to improve with each crop.

Sa’id Mreibe, Enoteca owner and tour guide, discusses the history of the families producing these wines.

3. Indigenous grapes matter

Part of what makes some of these wines so interesting is the grapes themselves. The best wines often come from varieties native to the land in which they are grown.

For example, in Armenia, I was introduced to grapes I’d never heard of — areni, kangun, haghtanak, khndoghni (yes, spelled correctly; yes, impossible to pronounce). Those grapes, endemic to Armenian soil, make spectacular and wholly unique wines.

The same is true here. At our tasting, we tried dabouki, a white grape indigenous to this region — even convincing me, a committed red wine person, that some whites are worth my while.

4. Supporting the local Christian community

This wasn’t just an enlightening event.

Last week, a nun was badly injured after a man shoved her from behind. She fell hard onto the stone pavement in the Old City. A recent uptick in violence against Christians by Jews, and specifically in the Old City, has clergy here hesitating to wear religious garb in public.

This small tasting was an act of solidarity supporting the Christian presence in some small way.

5. Supporting the local economy

It also mattered economically. The shops and restaurants of the Old City have been shuttered on and off (mostly off) by six years of war and COVID.

Just last month ago, many of these storefronts next to Enoteca were shuttered. Bringing people back into the heart of the Old City, filling a room with laughter and clinking glasses, felt like a small step in emerging from the despair.

And, it also involved wine.

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Today we had a different kind of siren. It is Holocaust Remembrance Day here in Israel and a two-minute siren is sounded for the country to pause and remember the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust. 

The sound of the siren was altered this year, so as to not be confused with a warning of an incoming missile. One minute after this ended, residents in the north did get a real warning of Hezbollah fire.

Last year, I read The Choice by Holocaust survivor, Edith Eger. This is one of the best books I ever read, let alone about the Holocaust.

Edith was not just a survivor, but she turned her loss and suffering into the healing of others. She became a psychologist and treated many people, clinically and by example.

Edith, who was a ballerina, was forced to dance in front of Mengele himself as she entered Auschwitz at 16. How she overcame all of this and ended up living her life shows that we always have a choice in how to respond to that which hurts us.

Holocaust remembrance ceremonies are held all over the country, from schools to official government functions. The regular news and television broadcasting is paused and instead stories of survivors are told on TV and radio.

I attended a unique exhibition honoring Armenians who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Now, one must remember that Armenians were only about 20 years after their own genocide and so the memories of their own horrors propelled them to save the innocent, many of them testified at the time.

Some 24 Armenians are considered “Righteous Among the Gentiles” and actually saved more Jews per capita than any other ethnic group—more than 400 by just a few Jewish families who were in Europe at the time.

The exhibit — organized by the Religious Freedom Data Center, an organization founded by an Israeli Jewish woman — was set up in the Armenian Seminary and hosted by Jewish volunteers eager to improve relations between Israeli Jews and the Christian minorities here in the Holy Land.

Yisca Harani, a Jewish scholar on Christianity who organized the event, said that Holocaust Remembrance Day touches Jews everywhere more deeply than any other day on the Jewish calendar.

“If I want to deliver the news that anyone can be compassionate and that survivors of the Armenian Holocaust helped Jewish people to survive their Holocaust this is something that can penetrate the heart of anyone on that day,” she said.

A few hours after the United States and Iran declared a ceasefire, Israel launched a massive wave of strikes across Lebanon on Wednesday morning, arguing that is war with Hezbollah was not part of the agreement.

In just 10 minutes, the IDF said it hit 100 targets more or less simultaneously in what Israel called “Operation Eternal Darkness.”

Israel’s defense minister described it as the largest concentrated blow Hezbollah has suffered since the 2024 pager attack that targeted its members. According to Israeli reports, hundreds of Hezbollah leaders were struck in surprise attacks on command centers across the country.

The Israeli military, accusing Hezbollah of using civilians as human shields, said it took steps to reduce harm to civilians. But the airstrikes hit multiple areas, including neighborhoods in the capital, without warning. Many of the targets were located within civilian areas.

More than 300 people were killed. We don’t know the breakdown between civilians and Hezbollah targets.

The two countries do not have diplomatic relations. Direct talks are a giant step in potential normalization of ties.

Representatives of Israel and Lebanon are scheduled to meet in Washington next week.

This effectively sidelines Iran while pulling the plug on Hezbollah and casting doubt as to the terror group’s future in Lebanon.

SHUNNING HEZBOLLAH

Hezbollah is one of Iran’s proxies, deeply embedded in southern Lebanon since the 1980s. It has been a sizable player in Lebanese politics, including in parliament.

Since the start of the recent round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, around 1 million Lebanese have been displaced, many from Shiite villages in the south where Hezbollah—also Shiite—is based.

But what is happening to those displaced people is creating new internal tension.

Many Lebanese civilians are becoming increasingly suspicious of these evacuees, worried that hosting people connected to Hezbollah could make their own communities targets for Israeli strikes.

There are reports of locals doing background checks on them, trying to determine whether displaced people have ties to Hezbollah — and in some cases, forcing them to leave.

And that is the complication: as Israeli pressure on Hezbollah increases, so has internal pressure and the shunning of many Shiite Muslims.

REGIONAL GAME CHANGER

Now this has made its way to a national level.

Lebanon’s cabinet has instructed security forces to limit weapons in Beirut exclusively to state institutions, an indirect way of saying: dis-arm Hezbollah.

“The army and security forces are requested to immediately begin reinforcing the full imposition of state authority over Beirut Governorate and to monopolize weapons in the hands of legitimate authorities alone,” Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said.

The disarmament of Hezbollah has always been on the Israeli agenda.

Now it is also on Lebanon’s — not just a parliament decision in September 2025, but this move now to secure Beirut.

Are we watching “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” play out?

This is perhaps the most surprising outcome of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. A result that few saw coming while most attention was directed further east.

While no one believes peace is on the immediate horizon, talks indicate warming of ties and a mutual admission that the eradication of Hezbollah from Lebanon is in the best interests of both sides.

(Image by bobbyjon from Pixabay)

Ceasefire!

Ceasefire?

Ceasefire… seriously?

Ceasefire, but… is it real?

The announcement of a ceasefire came an hour and a half before the “bomb-you-to-the-stone-age” deadline.

This was followed by missiles to Israel, a few more bombing runs by Israel over Iran and launches by Iran at several Gulf states all morning long.

But so far, the ceasefire has reached almost a full 24 hours.

And just like that—from the edge of our seats to “normal.” After 40 days of bombings, blusters, bluffs, missiles, threats, attacks and no school, we are tentatively not at war.

As usual, we are left with more questions than answers. Here are a few

1. Why are Iran’s points that it released of the ceasefire different than the U.S.’s points as expressed verbally? (Has the public seen an actual document?)

2. Why is there disagreement over whether Hezbollah is included in the ceasefire? (Pakistan and Iran say it is, Israel and the U.S. say no)

3. Is the Strait of Hormuz now open?

4. Is Iran really planning to charge a $2 million toll for ships passing through?

5. Where did Pakistan come from in all this to lead the negotiations?

6. Why did Iran keep targeting the Gulf states this morning after the ceasefire?

7. Did the regime in Iran really change as the U.S. leaders say? (Nope)

We also have the usual questions — from the basic “are the schools opening again?” (probably tomorrow) and “will flights return to normal” (eventually but not soon) to the more complex “does anyone really believe the war goals were met by any party?”

Here’s a round up of quotes from the parties involved:

UNITED STATES

President Donald Trump: “They requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth: “Iran begged for this ceasefire.” And, “The Iranians know that according to the agreement, they will never have a nuclear weapon.”

ISRAEL

The Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement only in English, not Hebrew, saying the ceasefire “does not include Lebanon.”

In Hebrew this evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We’ve had many achievements. Iran is weaker than ever. Israel is stronger than ever… We still have more objectives to complete, and we will achieve them either through agreement — or through war.”

IRAN

Statement from the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran:

“In this plan, America is fundamentally committed to guaranteeing non-aggression, the continuation of Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, the acceptance of enrichment, the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, the termination of all resolutions of the Security Council and the Board of Governors, the payment of Iran’s damages, the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region, and the cessation of war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic Resistance of Lebanon.”

(America really agreed to this?)

And then a different tone from the foreign minister:

HEZBOLLAH

Hezbollah legislator Ibrahim Al-Moussawi: “The agreement includes Lebanon, according to its terms, and Iran insisted on this inclusion” … and warned that Iran will respond if Israel “does not adhere to a ceasefire.”

(Talk about threatening to blast someone to the stone age… Israel apparently diverted its firepower from Iran toward Lebanon with a number of deadly strikes.)

SAUDI ARABIA

The foreign ministry: “The kingdom hopes that the ceasefire will represent an opportunity to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable de-escalation, enhancing the security of the region, and that any attacks or policies that undermine the sovereignty, security and stability of the countries in the region will cease.”

UAE

The country has “emerged victorious from a war we sincerely sought to avoid” after the truce.

QATAR

Supportive, but foreign ministry stressed the “importance of full adherence to the ceasefire.”

Qatari Ministry of Defense: “Today we were attacked by 7 ballistic missiles and several UAVs that were launched toward Qatar from Iran.”

OMAN

Offered its backing, but urged “intensifying efforts” to resolve the crisis.

IRAQ

The foreign ministry called for “serious and sustainable dialogue” between the U.S. and Iran “that address the root causes of the disputes and strengthen mutual trust.”

SUMMARY

I noticed that the dates — Oct. 7, 2023 to April 8, 2026 — marks two and a half years: of war, wars within wars, bombings, sirens, hostages, limited flights, disruptions and so much more.

It’s going to be hard to believe in routine again.

(P.S. I haven’t heard anything about the Houthis!)

Last night as we headed to sleep, I did one last visual sweep across the apartment:

• Socks. Check.

• Shoes. Check.

• Sweatshirt. Check.

• Jacket. Check.

• Keys. Check.

• Special needs son’s socks. Check.

• Special needs son’s shoes. Check.

• Special needs son’s sweatshirt. Check.

• Special needs son’s jacket. Check.

• Other two kids’ shoes. Tossed in the living room, naturally. Check.

• Their jackets. They don’t wear jackets. Check.

• Clear path from the bedrooms and the door. For the most part. Check.

It’s my subconscious war-time checklist before bed.

You know, just in case we get a middle-of-the-night siren. No one has time to match socks (unmatched socks are my special purgatory) with only 90 seconds to get to shelter.

While going through the ritual last night, it sort of moved into my consciousness and I noticed I had been doing that nightly. “Hm, cool,” I thought.

As I settled in bed, relieved that everything was accounted for, I asked my husband, “Do you think about where all the…?”

I didn’t need to finish the question

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“Good night.”

“Daniel’s socks are over there.”

An hour after a morning missile to Jerusalem sent us to a bomb shelter, our son Daniel had a dentist appointment.

Back story.

Daniel has special needs in the form of an extra chromosome, so filling a cavity was bound to be a challenge. When we booked the appointment, the dentist handed us a valium pill to give to D an hour before the treatment.

Within a half hour of swallowing the pill, Daniel was calm as a crystal lake.

Sirens blared. 90 seconds to get to shelter. Yet he couldn’t manage to hold his socks let alone put them on.

We practically carried/dragged him to the bomb shelter.

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By the time we got to the dentist—straight from the shelter—D was flying high as a kite, happy and unbothered by metal implements in his mouth.

With his favorite song blaring on an overhead screen, he sang and danced while on the chair. The dentist managed to take x-rays, fill a cavity and clean D’s teeth while this Christian kid rocked out to Rabbi Nachman and a dream pilgrimage to Uman.

Best entertainment I’ve had all week. I don’t think the Pink Elephants scene from Dumbo was any more surreal or hilarious than this situation.

Meanwhile, fragments of that morning missile landed across the road from D’s school, in a playground. No injuries were reported.

But many disparate and extreme emotions were reported in the course of this one hour.

Writing news articles has become second nature. I’ve done it for years, I love it, and, honestly, straight, hard news just writes itself.

So, I thought.

Because with the onset of this latest war in the Middle East, which started 13 days ago (but who’s counting?), I noticed that the ease of writing an article has been replaced by an overwhelming sensation of drowning in a raging ocean.

Many components are involved in creating reliable journalism... and boy are they hard to piece together when you yourself are a scattered war correspondent actually living through, not merely covering, a war.

True, I can cast blame on any combination of extraneous circumstances and constant disruptions, including but not limited to:

• constantly updated and breaking news

• getting kids onto online classes

• feeding kids

• receiving a blood curdling alert of an incoming missile

• getting a siren in your city

• ensuring that your kids are up and dressed

• running to a bomb shelter

Back up from our bomb shelter run this morning and struggling through my latest article, I waded through the interviews I did, research I collected and other vast seas of words on the page.

I paused for a moment to consciously analyze all of the essential parts that go into writing an article. It is quite a complex process even — without the fog of war and the brain fog of the reporters covering it.

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Let’s appreciate all the steps involved in constructing one fleeting story:

First, coming up with the idea

Second, pitching the idea

Third, finding a good expert to interview

Fourth, reaching out to the expert

Fifth, interviewing the expert

Repeat 3-5 for more than one expert

Sixth, verifying facts (especially fun when its a topic you’ve never thought about, such as fertilizer!)

Seventh, confirming spelling of names, places, AP style, etc.

Eighth, writing the dang article

Ninth, editing the dang article (which you are sick of at this point)

Tenth, regretting you even suggested it, but hitting send, cringing and hoping a really good editor will pick this up and make you look good, or at least passable.

While I’m sure this isn’t even a comprehensive list, any of these steps can lead to several bunny trails, especially if you’ve dared to source something from the platform formerly known as Twitter.

These days, with the rise of influencers who pass themselves off as journalists disseminating alleged “news,” plus polarized voices who publish whatever supports their cause and hide what doesn’t, every single step has become more complicated.

Ethical journalists now have to wade through way more information that they ever had to.

And I’m not even talking about scrutinizing official government sources or press releases. That is now relegated to “basic” research, not nearly as exacting as trying to figure out if a battlefield photo is AI generated or real.

AI, by the way, is still unreliable in sourcing facts and writing stories — absolutely egregious, in fact.

I’m not sure if this analysis makes me feel comforted knowing that yes, the process is exacting and for good reason.

Or if I it makes me feel more prone to drowning in all of it, especially with the winds of war swirling around us, kids at home and bomb shelter runs.

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As I was preparing to launch my new business, I went through a coaching process of which one assignment that I loved was to write up my Ideal Day (ID) and to create an Ideal Day Diary based on that.

Then I was to compare that to my actual day in an effort to eventually align reality with the dream.

Dalliances with nature, awaking rested and having ample time for family, writing and working out — in addition to work itself — were all part of the ideal 24 hours I laid out for myself.

This assignment was well before the latest war, but it was in the midst of another war. And all along, I had this niggling feeling that it was an effort in futility—because I live in the Middle East.

Nevertheless, I ignored that sense. It doesn’t hurt to dream, right? And really, with just a little discipline and exerting one’s boundaries, the dream is possible!

Then sirens—on a sunny and quiet Saturday, not even the weather ominously forecasting the end of normalcy.

Our lives essentially suspended.

Again.

All forms of activity canceled or closed: school, work, gyms, public gatherings, restaurant, malls.

In some ways, you have all the time in the world.

In other ways, your day is not your own.

Any previous routine is out the window and your day is suddenly shaped by news updates, sirens, bored kids and, for me, news articles and videos that absolutely need to be uploaded to every platform everywhere.

Just like Covid, just like Oct. 7, just like the 12-Day War and many other events I fail to recall at the moment.

The only predictable aspect about life here is unpredictability.

Here, “routine” is an extremely unreliable suggestion, putting “ideal” just out of reach.

For instance, how does “ideal” every exist for someone who suffered loss? Such as my friend whose son was killed last year. I don’t think any of her living days will ever be “ideal.”

“Ideal” is not something we simply put on a paper and hope to attain. It is an idea that is constantly being tested and bent to conform to morphing realities defined by restrictions, safety concerns and hope.

And missiles.

And “hostile aircraft” alerts.

“Ideal” is redefined according to adaptability — a character trait that is probably necessary for survival.

The business that I was supposed to launch this month — training and coaching on Storytelling through Journalistic Principles — is adapting as well.

While that is on hold, I am instead putting those journalistic principles to good use!

If you are interested in the news from the Middle East as we foray into what could be WW3 or at the very least a regional conflict (that impacts oil prices, etc.) you can follow me on YouTube for live reports. (https://www.youtube.com/@nicoolness)

I’d love to see you there as well!

But my sense of time stopped there—I had no idea what day today is.

While hurrying to find socks, shoes, a jacket and make sure the kids were also up and doing the same, my brain was subconsciously working (and failing) to figure out the actual day of the week.

Day 3 was my only answer.

I was semi-aware that this track in my mind was struggling and it bothered me — was it age, early onset dementia or here-we-go-again war/pandemic routine?

From our recent wars and that “beloved” time known as COVID, I am now seeing familiar patterns reemerge as we buckle in for what could be another extended state of emergency here in Jerusalem.

That quasi-conscious track of your mind is always reaching out for normalcy — but when it can’t find it, it runs like a motor in the back of your mind creating a draining and desperate effect on your psyche and ability to plan.

When routine goes up in smoke (literally in this case), you subconsciously go through a few stages until you create a new one. First, you don’t see a need to create a new routine because you assume everything will go back to normal soon.

Then, after a few days, you find yourself suspended in time between what was normal and what will become normal. For example, in this phase, you’ve lost track of the days, but you still care and it bothers you because your “normal” brain thinks it matters what day it is.

The third phase of moving to “the new normal” is accepting the fact that it no longer matters what day it is because every day is THE SAME.

There is no longer a weekend. There is no basketball or gymnastics to remember on Wednesday. There is no going to the gym or out for dinner.

There is only watching the news, herding your kids to zoom calls and contemplating indoor exercise. Oh and running to a shelter every so often.

Eventually, this loss of “time awareness” extends to the hour of day. Eating, sleeping, waking—all suddenly unbound my the restrictions of a clock. Everything is a suggestion or a diversion.

Except the sirens.

Most of the day is marked by nothingness only to be punctured by the blood curdling alerts that let you know a missile has been launched in your direction.

Instantly your priorities are all aligned for you.

Two of my kids “routinely” go back to sleep after the early morning siren (which seems to be a developing routine as well). No alarms needed for them — they just pass out until the next alert, even if it’s hours later.

At some point, my husband or I will ask the other for some intel on the day, usually checking our phones for confirmation.

Further confirmation of the day comes when someone who is clearly living in an alternate universe (or country) is carrying on like its business as usual asks you for your weekly goals (oh, its Monday!) or tells you that they — in the U.S. — need to take a sick day, because being sick is part of the original normal.

I suppose that is the fourth and final stage of normalizing a new normal: When you adapt your insanity to previously existing expectations.

Living on high alert has become routine and so we stop reminding those far away because it doesn’t translate anyway. How does one describe a few seconds of disruption when most of the day is anticlimactic, if not boring?

It’s almost Day 4.

For weeks now the world has been gripped in a holding pattern waiting to see whether the U.S. is going to make good on President Trump’s promise to intervene if the Islamic Republic uses deadly force or executes protestors.

The regime has already done both, but somehow the story — which is now more than one month old — morphed into nuclear negotiations (which was not even on the cards in this news cycle) all the while reports are trickling out of internet-blocked Iran that tens of thousands of people have been murdered.

The attack is still on the cards, apparently, despite talks in Oman and Geneva. Or, who knows anymore?

I live in the thick of it, in Jerusalem, where for weeks I have been fielding messages from friends, family and followers abroad about our wellbeing and asking about our alert levels here (which have yet to change).

Shrill headlines and news reports have given us a sense of “imminent” to “very imminent” to precise predictions of an attack tonight, tomorrow or this weekend. It already doesn’t matter which date was the presumed D-day because they’ve all come and gone.

In addition to this, analysts are offering divergent opinions. One of the popular reasons for why an attack hasn’t happened yet is that Trump is waiting for adequate U.S. military build up in the region. Another thought is that leaders fear triggering World War 3 or n actual nuclear holocaust.

But this has left citizens across the Middle East in a simmering pot of tensions as headlines continue to rage in the form of statements, questions and drama all using the same verbiage: “Tensions with Iran;” “Tensions with Iran?” And, “Escalation in tensions with Iran,” naturally.

At least be creative.

News consumers have moved on especially in the West where it snowed (eye roll).

But even for us in the Middle East who need to run to shelters if “tensions boil over,” it has fallen off of our ticking-time-bomb agenda.

At first we lived in fear for a few days, but now many people have actually tuned out the news or mock the seriousness of the situation because it has become monotonous, repetitive and feels, actually, false.

And herein lies the danger of irresponsible journalism.

We are truly facing a World War 3 type event and yet people in the Middle East have become blasé and have simply chosen to go on with their lives. The news of an imminent attack has become a joke. It reminds me of the overuse of the word when we were heavily reporting on an “imminent” deal to release the hostages and declare a ceasefire between Israel and a Hamas. Imminent dragged on for months, failed and left people bereft of hope while stacking up more trauma in their weary souls on all sides.

As journalists reporting on delicate and dangerous situations, we want to give ample and honest warning, but there is a fine line between caution and war mongering.

War mongering is addictive and keeps people coming back for more. Whether driven by ratings, financial gain or an expanded audience, war mongering blurs the lines of reality, objectivity and, ultimately, truth.

Obviously, politics and politicians play their own word games whether for tactical purposes or propaganda, as in the case of the Islamic regime.

The media is supposed to cut through subterfuge and report truth. How can anyone trust the media when outlets now merely parrot statements and roll out click-bait headlines while offering analysts who are repeatedly erroneous in their predictions?

We are training our audiences to live in a tizzy of adrenaline-fueled and cortisol spiking panic and apocalyptic expectations. Sadly, this makes normalcy boring and distorts our view of reality.

Normalizing wars and rumors of wars makes us crave headlines while also making us immune to actual wars, genocides and crimes against humanity.

In this case, it has caused us to forget the main story: that Iranians have been killed and are still being killed for protesting the regime’s iron grip and their destructive economic situation—the entire impetus for this news cycle.

We have done a disservice to the truth and have shifted focus from the mass murder of protestors (some unconfirmed reports are 70,000 dead)—the real news—to on-again off-again talks.

Iranians spray painted on walls and buildings, “Trump save us.” Yet any military action now is too late for the 20, 30, 70,000+ victims who were waiting for intervention before the slaughters that began on Jan. 8.

We are now a month beyond the beginning of severe crackdowns across Iran—and the headlines race from nuclear talks to canceled flights to aircraft carriers arriving in the region, but not the protests.

This whiplash of news has shaken trust in reports—a trust that is becoming more and more difficult to rebuild in these days of prolific media.

It is Ramadan and this is where we here in Jerusalem see repetitive stories in the media that repeat themselves year after year—not to mention the repetition in this very sentence which, though egregious, was intentionally left in for added *emphasis* (which is also repetitive).

Those of us living here are accustomed to “tensions” (specifically “escalating” ones) in general and more so these days since we’ve been on standby for a U.S. attack on Iran for more than a month now.

But the possibility of “escalating tensions” is dusted off every year also in relation to the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan which brings tens of thousands of Palestinians to Al Aqsa Mosque.

True, all the elements are present for fireworks thanks to the inherent complications of a messy and unresolved region and, more poignantly, a religious destination where a Muslim holy site exists in the Jewish state next to the holiest site in Judaism. It’s not like this in Mecca.

Here, however, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is responsible for (what Muslims call) Haram al-Sharif, yet Israeli law enforcement controls access for Palestinians coming from the West Bank and into (what Jews call) the Temple Mount.

Hence the headlines:

“Israel bracing for tension…”

“Palestinians accuse Israel of restrictions…”

“Police beef up security…”

“Flashpoint for violence…”

The Arab press usually slams Israel for police limitations on number of Muslim worshipers and their entry into Israel. Israeli right-wing media bemoans the additional restrictions to their visiting hours to the Temple Mount during that month.

Most Israeli and international outlets focus on the potential for clashes.

It occupies the headlines, but many times in reality the month passes (mostly) quietly.

This speaks to a lack of creativity in the media. A search of Ramadan/Jerusalem will turn up similar headlines—albeit from different years.

I started to notice this pattern of repetitive stories with the other holidays here as well.

For example, the usual festive articles about the Jewish holidays are accompanied by warnings of anticipated “spikes” in attacks and subsequent checkpoint closures for Palestinian workers during Jewish holidays.

Then for Easter, police invariably decide upon a limited entry to the Holy Sepulcher for Orthodox Easter prompting church leaders to invariably hold a press conference to criticize Israel of restricting freedom of worship for the small Christian minority.

Same stories every year. The stage is rolled out, the statements are slightly reworded and the characters—politicians, spokesmen and religious leaders—take their places ensconced in ancient history and modern-day headlines.

But how about adding meaning and context for us regular people? And a dose of reality.

For instance, my kids go to a bilingual school in Jerusalem (Hand in Hand) that is commissioned to teach peace and coexistence in a land fraught with conflict. Its supposed to be 50-50 (mother-tongue Hebrew, mother tongue-Arabic), but by middle school the majority of the students there are Arab and most of them Muslim.

Fasting is serious business since the Ramadan fast is intense: no drink or food from sunrise to sunset, which encompasses all of the school-day hours. Many Muslim children start fasting from as early as first grade.

The students all work it out and support each other for the most part, but sometimes “tensions” do “escalate” on the school playground when some kids eat or drink during daylight hours.

This is how my children experience Ramadan—far from the politics, law enforcement and restrictions. They are reminded that many of their friends have different beliefs and traditions, and that sometimes people fight over these differences.

My Christian son’s long-time aide, when he attended this school, is an angel and one of the best people I ever met. She is also Muslim and I will send her a “Ramadan Kareem” greeting today.

Jews, Muslims and Christians are all pretty intertwined here in the city, and particularly in our school chats where everyone wishes everyone a happy holiday on all of the holidays.

Our lives are full of love, intrigue, complications, challenges and a few doses of conflict.

Tensions exist—but more so in the headlines than on the ground.

That is sure to benefit clicks, views and ratings, but it does no favors to context and reality.